martes, 13 de noviembre de 2012

For me, however, the horse that stirred the emotions and provided a
moment in time that will be remembered for years to come isn’t even
among the 15 Breeders’ Cup winners.

He is Animal Kingdom, whose spectacular burst of speed to finish
second in the Mile left me in awe of this horse’s ability and fortitude
and the training job turned in by Graham Motion.

All Animal Kingdom did was run a mile in about 1:31 4/5 off nearly a
nine-month layoff, coming home his final eighth in a breathtaking :10
4/5 and final quarter in :22 1/5, despite not being able to run from the
head of the stretch to inside the sixteenth pole.

It was heartwarming to hear the round of applause he was given as he returned following the race.

No one is claiming he would have beaten Wise Dan, but you have to
think he would have been a lot closer than 1 1/2 lengths at the wire,
considering the nightmare trip he had and how little running he was
allowed to do. For him to overcome that and finish second and run as
fast as he did was truly exceptional, especially considering this was
not his best distance. This is a horse who won the Kentucky Derby going
away and likely would have won the Belmont Stakes had he not had a
near-disastrous spill after the start that cost him all chance. As it is
he still made a spectacular move on the turn in the slop to reach
contention only to falter in the stretch, suffering an injury.

As a postscript to the BC Mile, as he was pulling up down the
backstretch, he came up alongside Wise Dan and the two actually looked
as if they wanted to get it on. But then the outrider grabbed hold of
Wise Dan. Animal Kingdom, however, wasn’t ready to call it quits and ran
with them stride for stride until a second outrider had to come and
rein him in, with Bejarano standing straight up to slow him down.

Motion was very proud of his horse, but also disappointed he never got a chance to put in his best effort.

“I was naturally thrilled he ran such a big race, but the
disappointment of what might have been was overwhelming,” Motion said
four days after the race. “I’ve had some tough beats, including
Breeders’ Cup races, but this one was the toughest. I’m not going to say
he would have beaten Wise Dan, but he would have made a race of it.
He’s an amazing, remarkable, extraordinary horse. People question me
when I say he’s the greatest horse I’ve ever trained, but the raw
ability I witness every day is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

So, while I will remember fondly this year’s Breeders’ Cup and all the
memorable moments it provided, it was the remarkable effort in defeat by
Animal Kingdom that will endure over the course of time.